Former Namsov Fishing Company employees to gain full-time employment

The former employees of Namsov Fishing Company will receive full-time employment at Shore Recruitment before the end of this month.

This was promised by Acting Executive Director Ueritjiua Kauaria after receiving a petition from the employees. 

The workers lost their jobs around 2018 when Namsov’s horse marckerel quota was reduced.

Namsov has since been taken over by Tunacor.

Acting Executive Director Ueritjiua Kauaria in the Ministry of Fisheries says that they will process additional quotas for the company that has been paying them a monthly income of N$4,000 while at home.

However, he says there are procedures to be followed before they receive permanent employment.

“The minister concluded a negotiation with the company for N$1,500 metric tonnes. That is the conciliation that was drawn between the company and the honourable minister, and for now, I am confident to say that we are going to release something like 1,100 metric tonnes of hake to the affected company. The whole purpose of employment re-dressing is to employ people on a full-time permanent basis without the people having to be at home. That is the concept, but, like I am saying, This issue has a lot of moving parts. The Ministry does not own fishing vessels in our company; we rely on colleagues in the commercial fishing sector to do the employment, so we are signing agreements with companies that can absorb employees, and that is what is going to happen.”

The Ministry of Fisheries has made an interim arrangement for them to be employed by Shore Recruitment, and they have been receiving N$4,000 per month since 2020.

During the demonstration, the President of the Trade Union Congress of Namibia, Paulus Hango, said that the workers who are employed by Shore Recruitment are there permanently, while these ones are excluded.